docs: def encode(self, uuid, pad_length=None):
          """
          Encode a UUID into a string (LSB first) according to the alphabet
  
          If leftmost (MSB) bits are 0, the string might be shorter.
          """
          if pad_length is None:
              pad_length = self._length
          return int_to_string(uuid.int, self._alphabet, padding=pad_length)